Somalia gunmen shoot, wound lawmaker in Mogadishu

Somali soldiers and residents move the body of a victim who was killed during an attack, on September 21, 2015 in Mogadishu. (AFP photo)

Unidentified gunmen have shot and wounded a Somali parliamentarian in the country’s capital, Mogadishu.

On Saturday, the gunmen sprayed the car of MP Mohamed Ahmed Gurhan with bullets in the capital as he was on his way to parliament, said Dahir Amin Jesow, a fellow lawmaker.

“He was attacked by gunmen who were driving in a car, and they have shot him several times,” Jesow said.

He further noted that Gurhan was in stable condition in hospital.

“The gunmen escaped in a car after opening fire… They also shot to scatter the crowds,” Abdifatah Suleiman, an eyewitness, said.

No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Last week, another member of parliament lost his life when al-Shabab Takfiri militants attacked a hotel in Mogadishu, killing at least 15 people.

This photo shows the car of lawmaker Yusuf Dirir Abdi who was assassinated on May 23 in Somalian capital, Mogadishu.

In May, a parliamentarian, identified as Yusuf Dirir Abdi, was also shot dead and another wounded in the capital. The al-Shabab group claimed responsibility for the assassination, with a spokesman saying it was carried out by their “special trained forces.”

Al-Shabab has been behind several attacks targeting key government and security figures.

In a separate incident in May, al-Shabab also claimed responsibility for the assassination of a parliament member of Somalia’s northeastern semi-autonomous Puntland region.

Somalia has been the scene of deadly fighting between government forces and al-Shabab elements since 2006.

The militants have been pushed out of Mogadishu and other major cities by government troops and the African Union Mission to Somalia, which is largely made up of troops from Ethiopia, Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti, Sierra Leone, and Kenya.

The al-Shabab members have, however, continued to carry out attacks in Mogadishu despite being ousted from their bases in the seaside city in 2011.

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